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repointing

Feel slightly better that the repointing may be okay, but feel very unclear re. the mortar. If the old stuff is sandy and soft, can we assume it is lime? I will try the vinegar test tomorrow.

If it was lime (and would it be safe to assume a 1915 house would be lime mortar) isn't N mix (which is likely portland cement) the wrong mix even if the mason said he added some lime and sand to it??? Or is that totally okay to do?

DIY....now I am more hesitant the more I know as well as I see what I do fix 15 years ago along the foundation has spall is a few spots....old brick in the yard, common brick and definitely not the right mortar despite seeking advise at the time! Glad it was only a small area that I am to blame for on our beautiful old house.

1915 was in the transitional period, it could be either, but if it was portland mortar, it would have deteriorated long before now (or would still be OK). That is to say, if it was portland mortar laid in 1915 that was defective, it would have deteriorated long ago.

If it was lime, it was probably killed by later repointing with a portland mortar, which also would spall the brick.

Using no more than 10% portland in the mix is normally all that is allowed for a lime mortar, but the newest research I have seen cuts that back to less than 1% for tuckpointing mortar. So, adding lime to a Type N portland mortar is probably not a good idea.

<edit> ..not a good idea for use as a tuckpoint over lime mortar. That is a good mix for tuckpointing portland mortar, even old commons.

repointing

Another question - would Antihydro product reduce curing time and help with freezing problems? Our mason said we shouldn't be concerned about freezing because he added Antihydro to the mortar. After reading Antihydo's product info we aren't sure. Every day onwards from the when our mason repointed had freezing temps at night, and he didn't use blankets or heaters.

We had another contractor come this week to give us a price to complete the job and he said the mortar was "junk" if it froze. We seem to have the full range of advice from the job is most likely okay to junk.

Still not sure what to do.

Last is there an average hourly wage for masonry work?

Re the photo you added: yes it looks like our brick - though a lot nicer. The spall is quite bad in spots, whole chunks of the surface sheered off, there were definitely several different repairs that occurred going by the variety of colors of the mortar, some actual cracks through the brick. Luckily it is only in some spots. There is still a lot of original mortar I think..... going by its color, abundance, and comparative softness to the newer repairs. I read lime mortar could last a hundred years. Could I assume the softer mortar is just that old....1915 house.